This timely Research Handbook brings together 24 chapters with a wide range of different theoretical perspectives, empirical research, and innovative thought provoking ideas relating to an area of organisation and management that has been neglected for many decades – line managers. With a resurgence of interest in the topic in recent decades, this Research Handbook argues that line managers are a critical element of both employee experiences and organisational performance and worthy of close attention. Split into three sections, chapters present various ways in which line managers can implement HRM practices in the organisation, considering the implementation of a variety of HRM policies and practices (content), a variety of implementation processes (process), and a variety of line management actors. It also develops future directions for research on line managers, such as the future of work, digitalisation, robotisation and AI and the gig economy. Integrating theoretical and empirical research, the Research Handbook on Line Managers will be a key resource for scholars in the fields of business leadership, human resource management and organisation studies. It also provides managerial practices for organisations and line managers who are looking to improve the effectiveness and the efficiency of their work.

Table of Contents:
Contents: 1 Line managers in human resource management: theory, analysis and new developments 1 Keith Townsend, Anna Bos-Nehles and Kaifeng Jiang PART I THEORIES IN LINE MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 2 A systems theory perspective on the frontline manager role 12 Brian Harney and Qian Yi Lee 3 Fitting the line: a review of person‒environment fit theory in line manager research 29 Adam Robertson and Jennifer Chelsea Veres 4 Line managers, role theory and HRM 52 Samantha Evans 5 Frontline managers and human resource management: a social exchange theory perspective 65 Anindita Roy Bannya and Hugh T.J. Bainbridge 6 Line managers and HRM: a relational approach to paradox 82 Julia Brandl, Anne Keegan and Ina Aust 7 The role of line managers in the formation of employees’ HR attributions 95 Rebecca Hewett and Amanda Shantz PART II TOPICS IN LINE MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 8 The underappreciated role of line managers in human resource management 114 Joon Young Kim and Rebecca R. Kehoe 9 Line manager capabilities and human resource practice implementation 136 David M. Sikora 10 The allocation of HRM responsibilities to line managers: where is it most likely to happen? 156 Michael Brookes and Chris Brewster 11 Line managers in the public sector 169 Eva Knies, Adelien Decramer and Mieke Audenaert 12 HRM in small firms: owner-managers as line managers 184 Carol Atkinson, Ben Lupton and Charles Dahwa 13 The debateable leadership role of frontline managers 201 Keith Townsend, Ashlea Troth and Rebecca Loudoun 14 Line managers’ empowering leadership and employees’ task i-deals: an explanation from self-determination theory 217 Elise Marescaux, Anja Van den Broeck and Sophie De Winne 15 Global talent management: the central role of line managers throughout the organisation in shaping and implementing effective GTM 237 Karin A. King 16 Line management and the resolution of workplace conflict in the UK 258 Richard Saundry, Virginia Fisher and Sue Kinsey 17 Almost at the top, but not quite: senior management’s sources of power and their influence on HRM 270 Atieh Mirfakhar, Jordi Trullen, and Mireia Valverde 18 The role of line managers in the implementation of work adjustment practices for chronically ill employees: a qualitative study 285 Silvia Profili, Alessia Sammarra, Laura Innocenti, and Anna C. Bos-Nehles 19 Mental disability disclosure in the workplace: the role of line managers 305 Rina Hastuti and Andrew R. Timming 20 Line management in emergency services occupations: exploring personal challenges and organizational change in a uniformed culture 320 Joanne Mildenhall and Leo McCann PART III FUTURE DIRECTIONS IN LINE MANAGEMENT RESEARCH 21 The future of work: implications for the frontline manager’s role in HR implementation 335 Kathy Monks and Edel Conway 22 The role of line managers in the implementation of digitalization 349 Violetta Khoreva, Anna Bos-Nehles and Sari Salojärvi 23 Reconceptualizing the HRM role of the line manager in the age of artificial intelligence 367 Ewold Drent, Maarten Renkema and Anna Bos-Nehles 24 Line managers and the gig economy: an oxymoron? Paradox navigation in online labor platform contexts 388 Jeroen Meijerink, Philip Rogiers and Anne Keegan Index